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The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a major blow in Gujarat's Surat city on Saturday after six of its corporators...
Digital Desk: The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) suffered a major blow in Gujarat's Surat city on Saturday after six of its corporators in the local civic council joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In the presence of Gujarat Minister of State for the Home, Harsh Sanghavi, these corporators joined the BJP party late on Friday night.
The AAP performed admirably in the Surat Municipal Corporation elections in February 2021, emerging as the opposition party with 27 seats in the 120-member civic council.
The BJP had won 93 seats, while the Congress was unable to open its account. In February 2022, five AAP corporators joined the BJP, however, one of them later reverted to the AAP. The AAP now has 17 members after six additional corporators joined the BJP party.
"AAP corporators resigned from their party and joined the BJP," stated minister Sanghavi during their welcome ceremony. He added that the real face of AAP is revealed in front of the country.
"When AAP leaders went to great lengths to defame Gujarat and its people, AAP corporators joined the BJP with a commitment to develop their specific wards," the minister told reporters.
One of these six corporators, Ruta Kheni, claimed that she joined the BJP as a result of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's management style and the saffron party's ideology.
The AAP's strong performance in the Surat civic body elections in 2021 strengthened Arvind Kejriwal's morale. While contesting all 182 Assembly seats, it only managed to win five, none of which were in Surat.
Meanwhile, the AAP's state unit claimed that its corporators were being enticed and threatened into joining the BJP. AAP corporator Dipti Sakariya said in a video statement that she was invited to a BJP minister's home in the state capital of Gandhinagar and was given money to join the party.
"I told our general secretary, Monoj Sorathiya, about what was going on. Meanwhile, the matter became public after AAP corporators joined the BJP. It is distressing to see how the BJP is deceiving them into joining the party," she said.
Another AAP corporator, Rachna Hirpara, stated that the BJP has been attempting to persuade AAP corporators to swap sides since the party's election victory.
"After we won the election, we have received numerous offers. The BJP has been making offers, and several corporators have accepted them, took up to Rs 50 lakh to join the BJP party," she alleged.
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